In the Pursuit of Laughter
by Gabriel and his Moose
Summary: High School A.U. Gabriel is a senior, popular because of the lie he lives but maybe Sam Winchester will be the one who gets to know the truth


**Author's note:** This story is un-beta'd and so all mistakes are my own, there will be a lot as I am British and don't have a load of knowledge on American high schools. Also this is my first attempt at fanfiction so this could majorly suck. Gabriel is a senior as is Balthazar and Dean. Sam is a sophomore.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the character of Supernatural (unfortunately)

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**23 October 2012 **

It starts with a sweater. A bright orange, woolen jumper that is eye catching enough that even Sam Winchester looks up and chuckles. It is in that moment that Gabriel Shurley falls in love with the shy boy's laugh.

Laughter is his weakness; it has been ever since he was just a small child. He always has taken great delight in the laughter of others; he could listen to people cracking up at TV shows, films or jokes for hours. The way that people are all different fascinates him, he likes how some people giggle, where as some boom and others snort at the end. His favorite kind of laughter growing up had been when his family was all sitting together and laughing together. He loved how his dad threw his head back and howled, who his mum's body jiggled up and down with her high pitched chortle, and how Raphael would cover his mouth and act like he didn't find it at all amusing but the small shakes of his body and the glint in his eyes gave him away. Michael and Lucifer were the same he thinks it might be a twin thing. They would both try to suppress it, biting their lips to hold the laughter back, when it failed, they would exploded into hysterics. Gabriel had loved it. When he got older he discovered his own ability to make others laugh, he allowed himself to become the class clown, not for the attention or because he wanted to indulge in the personal drug that laughter had become, it was simply due to the fact that when he arrived home he knew his family wouldn't be laughing together any more.

But maybe Sam Winchester, with his low throaty chuckle could become Gabriel new favorite laughter. Maybe he could have a friend that wasn't family or just liked him for his pranks and over exaggerated stories. Maybe Sam Winchester could make him a better person.

However the distraction results in him flying down onto the laminate flooring, no thanks to a black converse. His satchel bag flung of his shoulder, his books scattering around the feet of the other students as did several bars of chocolate. If it weren't for Sam he would jump up, laughed it off and collected his stuff with a smirk on his lips. Instead Gabe just lays there as the quiet laughter continues. His Snicker gets stepped on by some girl who is dressed all in black, possibly a goth or maybe an emo, Gabriel can't tell the difference, and some jock in his red and white letterman jacket kicks one of his books down the hallway.

When Sam becomes silent, drawn back into his book; Gabriel regains movement in his limbs and manages to pull himself up from the ground, he picks up what he can and shoves it back in his bag hoping he hasn't missed anything of importance. He straightens out the sweatshirt and pats down his jeans before returning to his usual cocky self.

He struts down the hallway pretending he didn't just nose dive into the floor, while trying to tame his blush so that he won't have to face Balthazar in his current state of embarrassment. He fails.

When Gabe is within the blonde's line of sight he receives a raised eyebrow. "What's with the red and roses?"

"Nothing!" Gabriel snaps defensively, yanking his locker open so he can hide his red face from his cousin, not wanting his best friend to believe he isn't invincible. Though he knows Balthazar has seen him at his weakest and wouldn't think anything less of him especially over something this minute.

"Sure." Balthazar sarcastically replies rolling his light blue eyes, before turning to shut his own locker and readying to leave the shorter male, as he didn't want to deal with the wrath of Gabriel.

Gabriel slams the door shut, metal clashing loudly and echoing down the hallway. "Didn't you see my grand entrance, Balth!?"

The outburst went unheard. Balthazar was already heading to his first class, quick to get away from Gabriel when he was in a mood like this, leaving a pissed off Gabe to stand alone with just his thoughts for company. He let his head hit the cool metal, breathing deep in hope that he'll calm down enough, so that the day becomes more bearable for him.

When he feels like a normal human being, he runs his hands through his thick brown hair in an attempt to make it look presentable after his fall. He wonders what it feels like to touch Sam's dark locks, to know if it is as soft as it looks, Gabriel imagines that his own hair is Sam's for a moment, he seductively plays with it, twirls the ends around his fingers, before he realizes how much of a freak we must look. He lets his hands fall to his sides and slowly makes his way to class.

Gabriel has unlucky enough to have Mr. Hendrickson first lesson, one hour of dull equations with what could only be the most irritating person on the planet and Gabe knows a lot of people, especially annoying ones.

He made a crude joke the first time he was in this Math's class and ended up with detention (which he didn't bother to attend) for his vivid description of Kali's breasts. Gabe was 14 at the time and he had believed that if he told enough people about the smooth, soft flesh that he had been allowed to touch - in return for some cigarettes and a lighter, though he didn't mention that part- he might gain some popularity points and finally understand that the other guys found so attractive about girls. Instead he got a group of spotty awkward peers following him around and asking if he could get them a touch. However it did help to confirm his suspicions about his sexuality.

Gabriel didn't really like Kali. He didn't even like boobs. Most importantly he wasn't interested in girls.

Now four years older he knows to keep these things to himself, he doesn't want his peers to know that he plays for the other team, Gabriel rather likes the closet, and Narnia he thinks is great. Gabe just lounges in the back corner of the classroom, ignoring his own personal group of outcast, that stills have never had a date.

He doesn't even joke around. Mr. Hendrickson's reaction to his stupid pranks are never worth it; he is the only teacher that still calls home and arranges a parent-teacher talk, all the others have given up on him. The look on his dad's face when they have attended yet another meeting about his behavior makes him feel like a disappointment, but yet he can't find it within himself to mature.

He knows he should try harder, attempt to get smarter or just get better at something or just improve his behaviour so that when he gets older more than the birthday cards he receives change.

He supposes that the fact that he doesn't joke around in Maths is some small difference. Though he doesn't do the work either because when is he ever going to use the advanced algebra that he is getting taught, Gabe would much rather take a lesson in "How to pull a guy" or "Sam Winchester". Instead he thinks up pranks that he and Balthazar could pull on Dean Winchester, sometimes when he is feeling sentimentally he thinks about the little boy with big eyes and small hands that had both a mother and a father, no front teeth but a lot of dreams. The boy that died in the car accident when he was six years old, and got replaced with a cheeky grin and an over confident personality, he thinks about the 17 year old senior that currently is living a lie.

Today he slouches in the uncomfortable green plastic chair and lazily holds a black biro so that it looks like he might be doing work just like he normally does, but instead of his usual thoughts he lets his mind wonder to the events of this morning.

It defiantly wasn't the first time he had noticed the younger boy, just the first time he got to hear his wonderful laughter, for there is something about Sam Winchester that draws Gabriel in. He always keeps an eye out for the other student, even though he is like a ghost at Bridgewater high - too unnoticeably for even the worst of the bullies - yet Gabriel is oddly protective of him. Even if Sam's brother is one Dean Winchester, who Gabe has developed has a liking for making the butt of his jokes and is commonly seen giving Gabriel and Balthazar the death stare or retaliating with a few tricks of his own.

He is so caught up in his head that he doesn't hear the heavy stomps leading up to his desk nor does he hear Mr. Hendrickson cough for his attention. It isn't until the squared paper is harshly pulled from under his hand that he joins the real world.

Gabriel throws his body across the table, trying to grab at the sheet so that his teacher won't see the hearts he doodled all over the page and filled with GS + SW in his messy scrawl. He feels like some silly teenage girl, and no doubt Mr. Hendrickson thinks he is. He'll probably endlessly tease him for it, making this lesson worse than it already is, and he'll show the paper to every teacher he comes across, maybe even pass it around the staff room.

Gabe guesses he must have done something good in a past life, when the elder tears it to shreds, not even glancing at the content. Little bits of paper rain down in front of him, mocking Gabriel about the love he cannot have.

Mr. Hendrickson harshly grips the edge of the table, leans his body forward so that his nose is just inches away from his victim. "Get out of my lesson!" Spit flies out, bits hitting Gabriel in the face.

Gabe wipes the saliva from his cheek, sits back in his chair and smirks up at his teacher "I think I'll leave when you stop resembling a baboon's ass" He taunts, not even trying to hold his tongue. He relishes in the chorus of laughs from his classmates, feeling encouraged to say more, all sense of reason leaving him now that he knows he is already in trouble.

He's about to make another remark when his teacher beats him to it. "Did your mother not bother to teach you respect boy!" Hendrickson sneers at him.

Gabriel freezes; the mention of the only woman he has ever loved makes his heart ache. There is no witty comment he wishes to make, just the urge to escape, to run out of the room. That is exactly what he does. He grabs his school bag, throws it over his shoulder and dashes for the door, swerving around tables and chairs as he heads for freedom, he doesn't bother to look back. He needs to get away from Mr. Hendrickson, but more importantly he needs to get away the thoughts of his mum, especially the thought of how he had killed her.

tbc


End file.
